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<title>what do you know about being a parent? by tangentiallly</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180629">what do you know about being a parent?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangentiallly/pseuds/tangentiallly'>tangentiallly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Gen, Pre-Canon, set when b&amp;b was on The Island</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:41:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>843</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangentiallly/pseuds/tangentiallly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>beatrice and ishmael argued.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>what do you know about being a parent?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>disclaimer: i don't own ASOUE</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>he gazed down on her from the tall - <em>throne</em>, she thought furiously, disgusted by the word - as condescendingly as she remembered him to be from her apprentice days. the air of superiority and self importance made her want to grit her teeth, to lash out, and for a moment she almost felt like she would, but she didn’t.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>she could be calm and collected while furious. she would not lose control in front of him, furthering his sense of superiority. she’d known men like him, she knew the type. she would not give him the satisfaction.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>he looked at her like he knew more than her, like he knew better than her, like he was the wise mentor and she was a confused kid. she was not a kid, anymore. she hadn’t been a kid when they’d last met, either - she had already been a teenager in her apprentice days, and while she could acknowledge that’s far from being an adult, that hardly meant she had just been a kid back then. she was smart and clever and resourceful and she knew it, and she knew he resented her for knowing it, for her confidence, because men like him always wanted to feel intellectually and morally superior to everyone else.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p><em>pathetic</em>, she thought.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>she also knew that despite his resentment, he carefully hid those resentment away and pretended to be the wise mentor, ever so tolerating and perpetually disappointed with her. she was glad that he considered her a disappointment. people like him were not who she wanted approval from. in fact, she basked in the fact that she could properly disappoint him, she wore this around like a medal of honor. she remembered how he used to lament she had been troubles, her and her fellow apprentice. she was glad she troubled people like him. she made a point to be contrary to these holier-than-thou types.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>right now, he seemed utterly calm and irritatingly condescending as he looked at her, unfazed by all her accusations. unfazed by her loudly pointing out his hypocrisy of policing what books other islanders were allowed to read, policing what tools they were allowed to use, policing what they were allowed to learn, all while having access to those things he’d forbidden others to access. she’d call him a hypocrite, and he’d seemed unbothered by it. he’d looked at her like he knew what she didn’t, like he understood far more than she ever would.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>she loathed him. loathed his hypocrisy and loathed how he appointed himself the leader position to restrict other islanders. she felt her anger flared up, at how he considered other people too stupid to be allowed to take in information and decide whether to believe the information on their own, that he should be the one making that decision for them. as if he considered everyone else other than him to lack critical thinking skills to process the information, as if he got any right to make himself the arbiter.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>“i don’t expect you to understand,” he said patronisingly, because of course he never considered other people to be as smart and wise as him, ever. he’s still speaking to her like she’s thirteen and an inexperienced apprentice who understood nothing and required her chaperone’s wisdom to guide her through everything. the truth was that he couldn’t stand other people not following his guide, that’s why he’d always consider her and her fellow apprentice troubles. he’d told many other chaperones, other volunteers, lamentingly, “the baudelaires are troubles,” and those volunteers all nodded understandingly, knowingly.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>“i understand far more than you think,” she fired back, undaunted.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>he smiled, a smile perhaps meant to look indulgent but only looked patronising, because he was not a good actor. not like she was. she bested him long ago. “it’s a parent’s duty,” he explained, as if he was anyone’s parent. as if he hadn’t just come to this island and decided to appoint himself the islanders’ parents. “i don’t expect you to understand,” he commented slyly, his eyes landing on her stomach. “poor child, born to a mother who didn’t understand a thing about protecting children.”</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>how dare he insinuate that just because she had a problem with him running this island it meant that she didn’t want to or know how to protect her child? she clenched her fist, feeling her fury rising even more. how dare he sit there and condescend when he didn’t have any actual experience in being a parent?</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>“but don’t worry,” he added, “i will protect you and your kid, and your husband as well, on this island. you needn’t worry a thing. it’s my duty, after all, as the island’s parent.”</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>she wanted to scream, but he would just turn this around to prove his point. to say she’s immature, that she’s still the same childish thirteen year old who first met him. she would not give him the satisfaction of losing control. she would not prove him right.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>beatrice turned on her heels sharply and left ishmael’s tent.</p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://beatricebidelaire.tumblr.com">come say hi on tumblr</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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